Without a doubt. Science fiction has been the inspiration for a lot of the tech we take for granted today. Take the first-person-shooter games many play today. Arguably, they date back to id software's Wolfenstein 3D. Modern ways of thinking about 3D came from id software's John Carmack. In the book "Masters of Doom," Carmack admitted that Star Trek Next Generation's "holodeck" was his ultimate goal. Though, the gaming tech never achieved that goal, Carmack still believes it will happen.

Carmack and id software are backing the Oculus Rift gaming headset with a special version of Doom 3 BFG Edition. The goggles feature the widest field of view than any other headset in history. A step closer to Carmack's goal of real virtual reality.

Wow, this is quite a wild concept...like a robotic Borg from Star Trek but with their very own mothership. Amazing if this project actually goes all the way and these hedgehogs are out there exploring the universe.

Come to think of it some technology may have been inspired by fantasy novels, as well as sci-fi. For instance, I'm re-reading Tolkien's Lord of the Rings, and the Palantir might be seen as a wireless video-conferencing system.

freisl, I like that idea--sort of like space Roombas. We certainly need a lot of them! Here's an article we did on a robot system DARPA is working on to recycle space junk:http://www.designnews.com/author.asp?section_id=1386&doc_id=249134

Lets imagine that on earth we were deluged with coffee tables deploying hundreds of little spiked things from the sky raining down on us. It would certainly be the end of civilization as we know it. CNN would be interviewing some govt. bureaucrat or better still the presidents "spokes person" that would be trying to tell us it was no big deal while the Army, Navy, Airforce, etc from every country on earth would be on high alert accusing every other country on earth of doing it. Countries would instantly start bombing each other (imagine North and South Korea). Israel would accuse Iran of doing it while Iran would of course be denying it.

May be that is what the Mayans predicted but just had their math off a little.

There are several serious challenges relative to cleaning up space debris, and several of those challenges are quite daunting.

First, those chunks of whatever are all orbiting quite rapidly, and they weigh quite a few pounds. So intercepting them is a lot like catching large bullets. Consider what it would take to catch a baseball moving at 1000MPH. Many of the fragments are that heavy, and moving quite a bit faster.

Next, these chunks of junk are in various orbits, they are not just sitting there waiting to be captured. And when they are caught, consider the amount of energy transferred. So after acquiring one of these targets, catching it could be very exciting. Then there is the question of what to do with it once you have it. At least one sattelite was designed to capture one item and then burn up during re-entry. Quite effective but very expensive.

You are spot on, freisl. I suggest we take it another step and add Crowdsourcing and Gamification. I say we have a company launch a low-orbit satellite that contains a fantastically-large supply of Hedgehog Sweepers that can be controlled from a smartphone app here on Earth. Users would download the app and then aim and control the trajectory of a Hedgehog Sweeper to nudge a piece of space junk into the atmosphere using an app having game play similar to Angry Birds. In-app upgrade purchases of additional sensors and controls along with advertising would help to defray the costs of the entire program while performing a needed service to humanity's future endeavors in space. I think I would even be willing to pay $2.99 for the Angry Hedgehogs app...

I think that I detect a lack of information about what is needed to track a chunk of debris traveling at 1700MPH, and perhaps a need to investigate the kinetics involved with deflecting such a particle.

For a much simplified example, imagine attempting to defrlect a golf ball that has just been hit by a strong golfer using a heavier driver club. There would be quite a few challenges.

Great idea, Willliam. What we need is to harness the excess energy and time of gamers to clean space debris, consume poisons from the environment, optimize freight routings and a host of logistic endeavors. Just turn them into games and the problems would be solved in no time.

You are behind the times, Scott. I, myself, have saved the galaxy numerous times. We space warriors don't have time to clean up space trash or save the environment when there are so many forms of intelligent space monsters trying to invade the earth. It takes all our waking hours to keep humans safe.

You are behind the times, Scott. I, myself, have saved the galaxy numerous times. We space warriors don't have time to clean up space trash or save the environment when there are so many forms of intelligent space monsters trying to invade the earth. It takes all our waking hours to keep humans safe.

They already have 'space custodians' according to the anime Planetes. Then again, with the destruction of the space shuttle Explorer and the Hubble Space Telescope in Gravity, space hedgehogs would be ideally suited for the task of cleaning up the high-speed debris.

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